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Drug Addicts.....Are they "scum" wdyt?

I recently posted about DSD being arrested on various drug charges. Many comments were upsetting, not just here, but on Fb and online news articles about the arrests (12 were arrested following a month long investigation) Reading comment after comment like "great job PD put the trash where it belongs" or "yay, lock up the scum bags" was hurtful. These are people with an addiction. She wasn't dealing to make money, she was dealing o my to feed her own addiction (not that it is any excuse at all really). I wonder why people can't see addicts as people. They are daughters and wives, husbands and grandsons. No one wants a loves one to be an addict, but you can't stop them from being an addict either. I can honestly say I never enabled "A", but I also had no control over others that did. My stomach has been in a knot since Friday, and her future is very uncertain. I don't love her any less though, she is still a part of my heart.

Everyone looks at addiction differently but i feel that it is a sickness. Whenever we realize we are addicts and we choose to change thats the first step to sobriety.WE can choose to do drugs or we can choose life whatever the choice may be we have to face it and deal with the after math. When people choose to do drugs it does not make them scum, they put on that mask when they do the drug to try and cover up who or what they are afraid of becoming and in the long run it makes them even worse with out realizing the damage its doing. It kills the pain just for a while and you feel like a normal person but when the drug starts wearing off reality starts to set in again. Everyone in this world has pain drug user or not we are all human and anyone deserves to be happy and have clean people show the addicts that they have choices better choices than they are making that can give them life .

by Anonymous 111
on Nov. 21, 2013 at 11:22 AM

My soon to be ex is a drug addict and ive tried to help him for years but hes not gonna stop till hes ready and thats not now. I coukdnt stay for the safety of my daughter. But I do love him with everything ive got I just love her more so we left. He needs treatment hes sick but never finishes the treatment and never stays away from his friends like that. So till hes ready hes stuck.and I think thats how mosymt drug addicts are trying to deal with just normal everyday lifr is too hard sometimes that that is their coping mechanism.but untik theyre ready you have sit and watch. Good luck hooefully something good comes out of her being arrested. Thats how a few friends of mine got clean because they were forced into treatment aad finally saw how it was affecting their family

by Anonymous 112
on Nov. 21, 2013 at 11:43 AM

The scum part is because they are very selfish. I know I know the drugs do that to them. They tend to enroll others into their bad habit and often involve teens and children. Yes it should be treated like a disease because it is but most people including myself fear the spread of the disease due to peer pressure to their children so when they get arrested it feels like one less drug ring targeting my kids. I'm so sorry for your situation. It doesn't matter what others think of your DSD all that matters is that she gets the help she needs and her loving family support her and learn not to enable her. Everyone had to go to counseling or there is no point in her rehab.

I'm on the fence. On one hand I say it's like smoking cigarettes where if you want to roll the dice on your life, go ahead. Just don't smoke inside where others are affected by it second hand. But then I think of alcoholics and how they can be violent and due to lack of rational thinking while under the influence, they end up hurting people, especially of they get behind the wheel of a car!

But then there's drugs like weed that have medicinal properties where I just don't see the harm. So it really depends WHAT they are doing and how it changes them. Is it negatively affecting their work and/or family? Then yes, it's bad but not necessarily needs to be illegal. However if it makes you violent or irrational and influences you to break other laws then yes, punish based on the other laws being broken. But otherwise I think it's too much to make stupidity illegal and drugs are just that, STUPID! But so is excessive drinking, cigarettes and over consumption of sugar.

If a person wants to rot in their home doing meth, heroin, or whatever then we can offer support and help but unless they are hurting others, I don't get why it's illegal. I call it Darwinism. Many people lock themselves in their own homes and eat sugar all day until they are obese and full of self loathing. That's not illegal! It's just an addiction too.

So whether or not drug addicts are "scum bags" depends on how they act. If they steal, rob, drive under the influence, and commit crimes against others than YES! Scum bag it is! But if they just keep to themselves or can function properly than eh, I don't really care. That's their own personal lives.

I think someone will always take the place of the one being arrested though. That's part of the reason why this "war on drugs" doesn't work. I hate that there will always be temptation for our children to do drugs and it will always be accessible, however, I fear pharmaceutical drugs way more than illegal ones because at least we can TEACH our children that meth, heroin, cocaine, etc are bad. But it's a lot tougher to teach that the pills the doctor gives out to make us feel better are bad too, and far more dangerous, deadly and addictive than most "illegal" ones.

The guy getting arrested is like chopping an arm off a star fish, it will just grow right back! All we can do is our best to set good examples and teach our children the consequences of negative actions. They shouldn't abuse illegal OR legal drugs! If all they are afraid of is going to jail, well that's why they abuse legal substances like paint thinner or cough syrup. They'll always find SOMETHING to abuse unless we really teach the WHY instead of just the fear of punishment.

Quoting Anonymous:

The scum part is because they are very selfish. I know I know the drugs do that to them. They tend to enroll others into their bad habit and often involve teens and children. Yes it should be treated like a disease because it is but most people including myself fear the spread of the disease due to peer pressure to their children so when they get arrested it feels like one less drug ring targeting my kids. I'm so sorry for your situation. It doesn't matter what others think of your DSD all that matters is that she gets the help she needs and her loving family support her and learn not to enable her. Everyone had to go to counseling or there is no point in her rehab.

I know a tremendous number of addicts... in fact, many of these people are very near and dear to my heart and I have no issue with showing tough love... especially to one of my kids who struggles with severe addiction. I have heard therapists say that on the average, someone who is an addict will relapse 7 times before finally getting clean. That number is utter bullshit. There is no "average" when it comes to an addict possibly relapsing because they are fighting a fight that non-addicts have no effin clue about!! I had to educate myself so I could help my own child. I spent time around addicts, I asked questions and simply talked to them. Many of these addicts sold dope just to be able to pay child support or foster care fees. Many of these addicts were "self medicating" because they were victims of unspeakable crimes or were so down on their luck that they couldn't even afford to see a doctor for prescriptions for mental health issues. Non-addicts have no clue... none whatsoever!! It doesn't matter if we live with or love an addict, we have no idea how they battle every day with their addiction. "It's easier to go get high than it is to deal with one's problems...." this was said at an NA meeting I attended with my BFF when she was helping me to understand addiction. I can't condemn the person who is an addict because addiction is a sign of something more severe. I am not so perfect that I am allowed to judge. I can however, just be there for my addicted loved ones... Even if they push me away during their binge.... once the bag's gone, so are their "friends" but those who truly love the person, addiction and all, will be there no matter what.

by Anonymous 114
on Nov. 21, 2013 at 2:12 PM

Too many judgy people. They are all scum until it happens to someone you know (or you). My ex and I did every drug under the sun, and we were immune to addiction, until we found one that "got" him (crystal meth). Luckily, I was able to walk away, but even though he's clean now, it broke him in a way he'll never recover from (don't know whether it just magnified his paranoid schizophrenic/bipolar tendencies to the nth degree or created them, either way, cleaning up didn't fix it).

People like to demonize others, but the truth is mostly that we are completely myopic. Just because I don't like cigarrettes (now - I was a pack a day for years) means that anyone addicted to them is just too weak to quit (my grandfather could build a house, hunt/gather/grow food to completely feed his family, and play violin - he tried dozens of times to quit smoking and never could). Substances affect different people differently!

I can eat/drink pretty much whatever I want and not gain weight. Does that mean that anyone who isn't so lucky is horrible?

I know addicts who are scum (but it doesn't have to do with their addiction). I live next door to heroin dealers. I have asked them over and over to please just keep it in the house (I have 4 young children that I don't want coming across whatever they may drop). They drive high, and have crashed into parked cars on several occasions. So, yes, I think they are scum. I think they would probably be terrible and inconsiderate even if they were able to quit. But as I said above, I had an addict as a very-long-term so, and most of our friends were addicts. They were some pretty wonderful people.

by Anonymous 115
on Nov. 21, 2013 at 2:15 PM

1 mom liked this

maybe its a disease, but it's a disease that can be avoided. DONT DO DRUGS! it's that person's fault for starting down that path to begin with. I agree with the posts that were hurtful. sorry, but that's just my opinion. ps. my sil is 'clean and sober' now but the damage has been done, her children will forever be fucked up and she's still a selfish person that i will not allow around my own children.

This person is someone I recently reconnected with and went to visit (sans children, for obvious reasons, I can't be too sure what she has in her house). It turned into her talking about her issues, and then she told me that her mom had said that about her. You could hear the tears in her voice when she told me "It's not true, I know it's not." It broke my heart. Your job must be very hard, emotionally.

Quoting Anonymous:

This is why many people use drugs, to cover and mask the pain. I work with addicts, I see them as people. Some are resistant and use their issues as a reason to stay stuck. We are to.empower, build them up, and help tgem identify the core issues hoping they don't stay stuck. It takes time, them hitting a bottom and getting it right.

Quoting lhiannan:

I don't think they're scum. I have a friend that has had drug addiction issues since I have known her (I worked for her mother). She's a wicked sweetheart, but has severe mental health issues (ptsd from being sexually assualted by her father AND brother-oh, and her mom told my friend that there is something about her that apparently turns ppl into sexual predators), disassociative personality disorder (usually caused by severe abuse), anxiety disorder and depression. I actually was thinking of writing an essay about how every user has a story.

I do agree that addicts are people too. But, I admit that I think a heck of a lot less of them as people. I don't make excuses for them or their "disease". I get that it eventually comes to a point where the addiction escapes their control. But they put themselves there - by choice (speaking generally - there are exceptions).

Someone with cancer has a DISEASE. To me this does not compare to someone who got themselves addicted to drugs. To put the two anywhere near the same category is what I think is scummy. I think drug use is disgusting - I look at it as a vice, a weakness, and low-life behavior. Unless a person was born to a drug addict, thereby being an addict at birth, then they made a conscious decision to "start" using drugs. Like everyone, when you make bad choices, expect to be judged & held accountable for them.

Some addicts live "normal" lives - yay for them. But most addicts live shitting on not only the people closest to them, but pretty much every person they encounter. They take advantage, lie, steal, etc - all because their habit is most important to them. This is what makes them trash.

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